Worldwide News

In his opening statement before the 53^rd UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, ONDCP  Director Gil Kerlikowske highlighted the U.S. Administration's commitment to reduce drug use and its consequences in the U.S. and around the world.

The Government of Brazil will host the Twelfth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Salvador, from 12 to 19 April 2010. Pre-Congress consultations will take place on 11 April 2010.

The theme for the Twelfth Congress will be "Comprehensive strategies for global challenges: crime prevention and criminal justice systems and their development in a changing world".

The fifty-third session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs was opened today in Vienna by its Chair, H.E. Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh (Islamic Republic of Iran).

At its fifty-third session, the Commission will focus on effective ways of raising awareness about the risks of abusing drugs, including cannabis; improving the understanding of drug addiction as a chronic health disorder; and the importance of research and data collection.

Over 160 representatives from some 55 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) around the world will participate in the fifty-third session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and take part in plenary and informal discussions, as well as in various planned side events, representing the voice of individuals, families and communities from around the world directly affected by drugs.

After a decade of consistent declines in teen drug abuse, a new national study released today by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and MetLife Foundation points to marked upswings in use of drugs that teens are likely to encounter at parties and in other social situations.

The full report is available here.

The 2010 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) has been published.

The 2010 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) is an annual report by the U.S. Department of State to Congress prepared in accordance with the Foreign Assistance Act. It describes the efforts of key countries to attack all aspects of the international drug trade in Calendar Year 2009.

Volume I covers drug and chemical control activities.

Volume II covers money laundering and financial crimes

Briefing on release of the 2010 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) is available here.

UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) and Eurojust (a European judicial cooperation body created to help provide safety within an area of freedom, security and justice) have signed an agreement to improve judicial cooperation and intensify the fight against crime, particularly serious crime.

Marijuana use at a young age significantly increased the risk of psychosis in young adulthood, Australian investigators reported.

Young adults who reported a longer duration since first exposure to marijuana had a two- to fourfold greater prevalence of three different psychosis-related outcomes, John McGrath, MD, PhD, of the Queensland Center for Mental Health Research in Wacol, and colleagues concluded in an article published online in Archives of General Psychiatry, reports Medpage.

UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa has called for concerted efforts to break the vicious circle between insecurity and underdevelopment.

Addressing the Security Council on 24 February during a debate on global threats against international peace and security, Mr. Costa said, Instability attracts crime, and crime deepens instability. In a chain reaction, humanitarian crises follow, development is stalled, and peacekeepers are deployed.

To illustrate the problem, UNODC issued the report Crime and Instability: Case Studies of Transnational Threats. The report focuses in particular on the impact of flows of drugs (cocaine and heroin), piracy around the Horn of Africa and minerals smuggling in Central Africa.

Further reading:

Antonio Maria Costa addresses the Security Council on December 8, 2009